Three Important Steps For Dealing With A Resident’s Complaint

Three Important Steps For Dealing With A Resident’s Complaint

One of the many duties that you’ll oversee when you work as a property manager at a residential property management company is fielding complaints from tenants. Ideally, these situations will be few and far between — and the better job that you do, the less likelihood there will be of a tenant wanting to meet with you to voice a concern. However, when issues do occasionally arise, it’s valuable to have a reliable strategy in place for dealing with the situation. How you deal with a resident’s complaint goes a long way toward keeping him or her happy, which is important. Here are three steps to follow.

1. Demonstrate Some Empathy

Make sure to show lots of empathy when a resident lodges a complaint with you. Doing so will show that you’re listening and can be valuable for quickly de-escalating a situation in which the tenant is highly frustrated. There are many ways to show empathy, but you generally want to reiterate what the tenant has said and put yourself in his or her situation. For example, in the case of a tenant complaining that a neighbor is loud late at night, you might say, “I definitely understand what you’re saying about the noises bothering you when you’re trying to sleep, and I can imagine that this is frustrating.”

2. Explain What You’ll Do

No frustrated tenant wants to hear sentiments such as, “I’ll look into it.” It’s far better to give your tenant a clear and honest explanation of what you’ll do to rectify the situation. Doing so can help the resident to feel confident in your role as property manager. In the above scenario, you might say that as soon as this meeting is over, you’ll be visiting the noisy resident in person to explain that complaints have been lodged against him or her. You can further explain that the verbal warning comes first, followed by a written warning.

3. Check Back In

It can be bothersome to lodge a complaint and never hear back about it, so be proactive by checking in with the resident who complained to you a few days or perhaps a week later. Call or visit him or her to ask how things have been. Ideally, you’ll hear that the noisy neighbor has improved his or her behavior — and this will definitely impress the resident with your skill in dealing with the situation. If the issue isn’t better, you can follow up with the noisy resident with a second warning, as per the tenants’ agreement.

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